


Live to Die Another Day

by SpaceShark



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: All spoilers for Walking Dead, Beth Greene Lives, Beth has adapted to the zombie apocalypse, Eventual Smut, F/M, Like she can actually fight now, Slow Burn, somewhat AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceShark/pseuds/SpaceShark
Summary: Somewhat AU. Beth's gunshot from Dawn wasn't fatal, but it left her in a coma that had the others assuming her dead. Later, she made her way to the Hilltop, reunited with her old group, and found herself rethinking her relationship with Daryl when he's taken hostage by the leader of the Saviors.Starts in Knots Untie. Spoilers for everything. Rated mature for the usual reasons.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically my second attempt at Bethyl/Daryl and Beth. The first is on Fanfiction.net (under the name Jokerang) and was way back in season 3/4, before Beth's canon death, but I kept watching the show (one of the best on TV) and I wanted to write something into the current story arc with Negan and the Saviors. So this story was born. It starts off with Rick, Daryl, and the others arriving with Jesus at the Hilltop for their visit in "Knots Untie". This chapter is just a prequel of sorts; we'll get up to speed shortly.

Beth couldn't believe it.

It was Rick, Daryl, Maggie, and all the others from her old group. There were here at the Hilltop.

She'd last seen them at Grady Memorial Hospital. Dawn had shot her, and Daryl had killed the woman in return. When she awoke, the rest of the officers told her that she'd been in a coma, and everyone had assumed her dead. Until one of the doctors thought she wasn't, and brought her body inside to recover. That was three weeks ago.

Beth had decided to go north, to Virginia, to find the group. Several officers and doctors went with her, half of them bored with being holed up in a building and wanting fresh air. They'd taken the mountainous path, encountering settlements, walkers, and raiders alike. For months, they'd headed to Washington DC, following the way Noah had wanted to go. They gained some people, they lost some people.

Eventually they did reach Washington. But not before encountering them.

The Saviors.

What an ironic name. They didn't save. They brought only devastation in their wake.

Beth and her group had been ambushed by a gang of them on a highway. Their leader insisted on half of their stuff, and demanded to know where they were going. When the leader gave an angry response, the leader of the Saviors shot him dead, and killed two others from Beth's group for good measure, forcing everyone to watch. After that, the Saviors left, telling them that this was the way things were now. The survivors and Beth were relieved to just be alive when they reached a save haven called the Hilltop.

That save haven was short lived. The Hilltop was also being extorted by the Saviors, with Saviors making "visits" whenever their wants weren't satisfied. As a result, the Hilltop was forced to scavenge further and further than they would liked. Beth eventually joined them, having finally become competent being surrounded by police officers all those months. One of the others, a man who's beard and long hair earned him the nickname of "Jesus", lead her on these parties, and the two became friends.

One day Jesus came back with survivors from another, nearby settlement. Beth could have sworn it was Rick Grimes from the prison talking to Gregory. She thought she was dreaming. It had to be a lookalike. Then an Asian man who could only be Glenn, Maggie's lover, got out of the RV next.

Then Maggie and Daryl followed, and Maggie pointed at her. "Is that my sister?"

"You bet your ass!" That was the gruff sound of the redneck she'd survived weeks with. Judging from the way he was running at her, his soft spot for her reopened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure to do this in Daryl's POV or Beth's, so I tried both. If you want to hear from one character or another, just let me know in a comment or something.

_Daryl_

It can't be fucking real. It's her. Same pretty face and blond hair I saw die back in Atlanta. But… it's her. It's her all the same.

I run to her and give her a goddamn bear hug. I actually don't feel like a failure this time. I laugh, and she laughs too. Soon, Maggie joins in, in tears to see her sister again before death.

"H-How!?" Maggie asks. She wipes at her eyes.

"I was shot, but wasn't dead. The doctors called it a coma like they'd never seen before." She pointed at a nasty looking scar at the back of her left jaw. "Half an inch to the right and I'd be dead as a doornail." I had to touch it and inspect it, just to be sure.

"How'd you get all the way here?" I asked.

She went into quite the detail. "I convinced the others at Grady to come with me to find Noah and you guys. Over who knows how many months, we headed north, losing and gaining people along the way." She mentioned a number of places in the Appalachian mountains. "What was left of us reached here after being attacked by-"

"Men on motorbikes?" I asked. "Ran into some of those sons of bitches myself. Suffice to say they're not breathing anymore."

"I don't think it was one group," said Beth, more worried. "They said their leader was-"

Before Beth could continue, Rick and the leader of the Hilltop came out of the museum building, discussing a possible deal for the future. Near them, a returning scout group reported that a man named Negan killed two of their group because their drop was too light, and he's holding another one of their members, Craig, until they deliver a message. The old man asked for the message, to which one of the men stabbed him in the gut.

Rick's response was to fight the attacker, which ended with the man's blood pouring from his throat on Rick's face. Another from the scouting group attempted to strangle Abraham, and for a moment it looked like he had lost it. So I stepped in, and I broke the attacker's arm in the nick of time.

"Daryl, stop!" screamed Beth. Wasn't sure what the hell her reasoning was, but I did actually stop and stare at her. "I ain't dealing with this bullshit! It's him or Abraham, take your damn pick!"

Beth just looked horrified, but it wasn't the same look of the teenager from the farm. This was someone that had seen the new world, and had gotten used to it, but didn't like it anyways.

A confrontation was growing between the disgusted Hilltop residents and our group. The locals began drawing various blades and guns, while our people were on high alert. Beth stood somewhere in the middle, not really realizing where she was. Then again, she didn't seem scared anymore.

It looked like it was going to be a fight. Then the man who called himself Jesus quickly ran between Rick and the next person looking for a fight, and attempted to defuse the situation. "This is over! Ethan was our friend, but he was a coward who tried to kill Gregory. He brought it upon himself, and these people stopped it."

Guess that's where Jesus' nickname came from. His ability to keep the peace, or shit like that. A fight was the last thing we needed, but I'd give it to them if they were willing. But it didn't happen. Next thing I knew, Rick was putting his gun away and helping move Gregory to a better location to tend to his wounds. Beth and I went to help Abraham up on his feet.

"Thanks," was his reply. Abraham then stared at Beth for a few seconds, then said, "Are you with Daryl?"

"More than that. I'm Maggie's half-sister."

"She was at that hospital in Atlanta," I explained. "We thought her dead and went on. Turns out, it was a coma or some shit. Beth, this is Abraham. He's like Merle, but nicer."

"Who the dicknuts is Merle?"

"My brother. Did I not tell you about him?"

* * *

 

_Beth_

Jesus took everyone to the antique library to explain the Saviors and their methods to Rick's group. I, for the most part, stood back, talking with Abraham, whose colorful language would have made Daddy have a heart attack. He seemed like a good person, though, and I was glad he was a part of Rick's group. Everyone could use some extra muscle in these days.

From Daryl, I learned about the new settlement Rick had helped consolidate: the Alexandria Safe Zone. I also began running a list of the new people in my head:

-Abraham: red haired, former soldier. Strongest member of the group. Born fighter.  
-Rosita: Abraham's ex. Nice enough, also a fighter.  
-Eugene: weird guy who falsely claimed to have the cure to the zombie virus to stay alive. Intelligent, but socially awkward.  
-Father Gabriel: pastor picked up along the way. Disliked at first, slowly accommodating to Rick's leadership.  
-Tara: former Governor follower who abandoned him. Good at killing walkers.  
-Aaron: Alexandria's main recruiter. Sees the good in others.  
-Heath: another supply runner. Experienced.  
-Enid: girl found on her own. Carl seems to like her.

There were others, but Daryl couldn't really point anyone out, since only Abraham was new among those that had gone to the Hilltop. Daryl had… well, not changed. The same rugged features, disregard for anything he didn't like, and disheveled hair and stubble were there. In fact, his hair had gotten even longer.

Not that I cared. It suited him.

A new deal between Alexandria and the Hilltop was put in place. Rick's group would receive half and only half of the Hilltop's supplies in exchange for dealing with the Saviors. Maggie also managed to arrange for me to return to my old group. Nothing personal against the Hilltop, I just liked having my sister back.

Before we left, however, there was one last thing to do. The Hilltop had an ultrasound machine it its infirmary. I was surprised Glenn and Maggie wanted to conceive at this point, but I figured it was going to happen eventually. The two of them were filled with nothing but glee. Their time together had only made them closer and stronger together.

"You're going to be an aunt," Maggie said lightly.

Glenn just smiled. "It's just great to have you back, Beth. Talk about a total godsend."

The three of us took some time to admire the baby. It was kind of euphoric, thinking about starting families and raising children in this world. Then I remembered Judith. "Is Judith still alive."

"Yep," replied Glenn. "Carol takes care of her mostly. She remains Rick's main reason for living."

"She must be so big now."

After some more talk about Judith and Alexandria, we headed on our way. Andy, the Hilltop resident whose arm Daryl had broken, was taken along as a way of building trust between the two survivor groups. Before leaving the Hilltop, Glenn and Maggie had printed out some ultrasound photos of their baby and passed them around for everyone to see in the RV ride to Alexandria. I had to point out the various features to Daryl. "So that's it's…"

"Feet," I said. "Have you never seen an ultrasound before?"

"Hell if I know. I doubt my momma used one ever, and Merle and I sure as hell didn't reply to any baby mama trying to make a dollar off of us."

"You got a girl pregnant?" I asked.

"Dunno. It was a drunken heat of the moment thing, and Merle was telling me her messages were a scam to milk me dry of paychecks. Before I could tell her anything, the walkers had overrun her hometown. Guess I'll never know." Daryl stared out the window for a minute, probably lost in thought. "You can't save everybody. But at least we found you." He tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

"You didn't find me. It just happened to be a coincidence we were in the same place at the same time."

"Bullshit. Everything happens for a reason. Even your little nephew."

Smiles around from everyone for Daryl not looking angry or grumpy all the time.

Alexandria ended up being a suburb surrounded by metal walls, a very clean and efficient looking community at that. There was so much room within the walls that everyone pretty much had their own home. Rick had offered the house behind his for me, but I decided to live with Glenn and Maggie, until I had settled in for a week or so.

There wasn't much time to explore, however, as Rick had insisted I go to his war meeting regarding the Saviors. I had told him about my slow and painful learning of how to use firearms, and for the most part he seemed to go along with it, although he wanted to test it later.

"These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road," said Rick. "Now, sooner or later, they would've found us. They woulda killed some of us, and they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place."

Rick was even more hardened than before. I know how he had dealt with the Governor and Woodbury but here he was talking about a preemptive attack, a clean sweep. That hadn't happened in before. Rick was now more like his partner that he killed, Shane.

"This needs to be a group decision," said Rick. "If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

A man named Morgan, who was said to be from Rick's hometown and knew him personally, wanted to try talking to the Saviors first, but Rick shut him down. "Look at Beth, look at Daryl. They tried talking. They're only alive because of luck. We have to make that luck ourselves."

After a few more minutes of going back and forth, it was decided that we were going to war, and making the first strike. Rick and Daryl took me to the top of one of the walls to test my shooting skills.

"Here," said Daryl, giving me a bolt action sniper rifle. "Kill six walkers. Prove you can fight."

He obviously remembered how naïve and inexperienced I had been. I hesitated for a moment, then picked off all the walkers on the ground, one by one.

"Not bad," remarked Rick, nodding his head. "Where'd you learn that from?"

"I had a good teacher."

"That teacher have a name?"

I hesitated again. "Leo. Some special forces guy from Kentucky. Didn't make it this far, obviously."

"Well," said Daryl, smiling, "he must have been one hell of a teacher to turn your fighting skills inside out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'm in character for everyone. I probably need to rewatch seasons 4 and 5, but I think I did an ok job so far. I'll probably give more and more detail of Beth's road to Alexandria as time goes by.
> 
> What did you think?


	3. Chapter 3

_Beth_

" _Is it supposed to do that?" I wasn't expecting such a kickback from the M4 assault rifle I was firing._

" _It's supposed to," said Leo. Claiming to have been Delta Force and looking like it too, Leo had taken up the job of training me how to fight. "Now, you've been going up against the maimed walkers I prepared for you. But those aren't the ones you'll be up against. Let's take on some of the real threats."_

_Leo and I went to the open field near our camp. All our camps were makeshift, as we were on the move towards DC. A trio of walkers was stumbling on their way when they spotted us. "There. Those are perfect. Use your gun to take them out."_

_I managed to kill the first one easily enough, although I had probably spent too many bullets on it. The second, I kept missing. I tried closing the other eye (Leo and I couldn't decide which one was dominant) and fired again. This time, I hit the mark. The third was close enough for a point blank headshot._

" _Not bad," said Leo, smiling and nodding. He rubbed his face and said "Can you do it again?"_

I remember countless stories like these from my journey. They help to keep Leo's memory alive. Memories are all we have when people are gone from the earth.

As part of the plan for dealing with the Saviors, Rick had us go out and gather walker heads that looked like Gregory, and pick one that looked the most like him to fool the Saviors guarding their outpost. Meanwhile, Andy was giving Rick details on the outpost specifications. It had been decided to attack at night, to lessen the chances of resistance overall. Daryl and I were on one stretch of the road, looking for any suitable old male walkers.

"Whatever happened to Noah?" I asked Daryl. "I don't think I saw him in Alexandria."

"That's right," was the gruff response. "Got swarmed."

I looked down. Noah didn't deserve that, but I was curious for more. "Details?"

"Got killed when some coward left him for dead. He's dead too, so there's that." Daryl looked the other way. "That one. Looks like Gregory fairly enough. You wanna?"

I nodded, then shot the walker in the chest with the silenced pistol I'd found in the armory. Daryl cut off the head a minute later. "Let's see if this one suit's Rick's needs."

An hour later, we ended up picking another head, one with a broken nose that could easily be explained by a struggle. At least now, Andy and Daryl weren't fighting like before.

* * *

 

_Daryl_

That night, we rolled out. The plan was for Andy to dupe the night guards with the fake head, and then we would clean house in the complex room by room. We didn't know if this was the only Savior base but my hunch was that it wasn't.

Still though, better them dead than alive and kicking to give us grief.

Beth, Rick, and Carol all got in an argument over whether Maggie should have come along, considering pregnancy and such. Carol was against it, but Rick said it was her choice and that he needed every person he could, as he was not taking chances. Beth's comments all more or less said that she wanted whatever Maggie wanted. That was, Maggie helped guard the perimeter where the danger level wasn't so high.

If this had been Woodbury and the Governor, Beth probably would have wanted Maggie to stay home. But things were different. Beth carried her own weight now and had barely had her sister back for a few days. Best they not get separated so soon again.

Andy's part of the plan went as scheduled. He got the attention of the guards, and endured their taunts before they seemed satisfied with the walker head to go fetch the Hilltop hostage being held there. The first guard's neck was mine, and as soon as it was done the whole group cleaned up the mess like a well oiled machine. It was actually pretty impressive how much ten people could get done in fifteen seconds. The second guard arrived with the hostage, but got killed by Michonne with her katana.

After that, everyone began the real job: extermination. Carol, Maggie, Father Gabriel, Tara and Jesus covered the entry/exit points of the compound while the rest of us went inside to clear each room, one by one. Beth wanted to stay with Maggie but she insisted she go in, claiming she could handle herself.

The building was some sort of radio or TV station, from the looks of it and judging from the large satellite dish on the top. The first few rooms of the place looked like they hadn't seen habituation in years. Looks could be deceiving, however. Terminus was supposed to be a rest stop, not a cannibal meeting place.

"Split up," said Rick, quietly. "Check the doors, find the arsenal. We take them out." Pairs began fanning out: Abraham and Sasha, Aaron and Rosita, Glenn and Heath, Rick and Michonne, and Beth and I. I opened the first door I found to find two men sleeping away on bunkbeds, like at a camp.

"Let's do it," I said to Beth, getting out a Bowie knife.

"I'm all for killing them. But in their sleep…"

"Like I said earlier: us or them." I plunged the knife into the first Savior's neck, and was going to do the other one when a silenced round was fired. Beth didn't look to happy about it, but it needed to be done.

"Weapons," she said, picking up a shotgun at the corner of the room and draping it around her shoulder. I did the same with an Uzi on the man I killed.

The two of us met up with Rick and Michonne, who'd cleaned the room across the hall for us. We were about to do the next two rooms when an alarm began blaring loudly. People began coming out of every door, all of them looking very angry.

"Go loud," said Rick, who fired at the catwalk above him. Beth and I did the same. Our new priority was now getting out of here, and killing everyone who resisted. Hopefully, the people we left on the outside could pick off the stragglers easily.

The four of us moved and ran as one. Occasionally one of us had to go back and deal with someone coming up on our rear. This was usually Beth, while I kept moving forward.

The next locked door I kicked down let to some kind of game room, with darts, a billiards table, and even a firing range with various hunting and assault rifles. However, a Savior was waiting in there, and ambushed me. I tried to get the upper hand, but the man kept trying to stick a knife in me. It took all my strength to keep him busy, since the gunfire behind me signified that the others had their own troubles. I'd get out of this eventually.

Then, a much closer gunshot, and the Savior's blood was all over me. I dropped the body and found Beth right behind me.

"That's for all the times you saved me in Georgia," she said grimly.

"I had him," I told her back as I picked up my shotgun and headed towards the other door of the game room. But I truth, I hadn't. It just seemed unreal that the same girl who'd been dead weight was now a fighter on Maggie's level.

The battle raged most of the night. One by one the rooms of the Savior base were cleaned of resistance. The group cumulated at the collection of vehicles out in the back. By that time, it was somewhere in the late morning. Tara and Heath insisted on going on their planned two week supply run then and there, using one of the vehicles. Glenn tried to talk them out of it, but Heath insisted, saying he just needed to clear his head. I didn't blame him.

"Do you think Negan was any of them?" Beth asked me, regarding the dead.

"Doubt it," I said. "If they were good enough-"

A bike vroomed in the distance. A lone Savior was attempting to ride away – on what could only be my bike. "Son of a bitch!"

Rosita easily gunned him down, throwing him off the bike. I immediately began to give him an idea of what I thought of his attempted getaway. Namely, beating the shit out of him. "WHERE'D YOU GET THE BIKE?!"

The man spit out blood as Rick came beside him and placed a revolver at his forehead. "Go ahead, kill me. Just like all the others, huh?"

Before Rick or I could respond, a woman's voice began speaking through a walkie-talkie: "You with the Colt Python: lower your guns. Lower all your guns."

Everyone went into high alert mode. For all we knew, there was an army in the tree line that covered our fields of view. Maybe they'd caught Heath and Tara leaving the place.

"Come on out, and we can talk," said Rick. From his tone of voice, he thought the woman on the other side was bluffing.

"We won't come out but we will talk." A few nerve wrecking seconds later, and the woman came back: "We've got a Carol and a Maggie. I'm thinking that something you want to talk about."

God fucking damn it. I hadn't seen either of them all morning.

Fucking fuck.

* * *

 

_Beth_

I knew I should have stayed with Maggie. I should have been with her.

Now, she was in the balance, reduced to a hostage.

"Now, we're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way." The woman on the other end seemed confident about her negotiation ability. Whether it was a bluff or reality, I didn't know. I was certain, however, that they could kill my sister if they wanted to.

Rick must have thought it a bluff. "You can see we have one of yours. We'll give him back for ours. You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already. But first I want to hear Carol and Maggie. Make sure they're all right."

Both Carol and Maggie said they were fine, but they got cut off attempting to say anything else. "There's your proof. And we'll think about it. Two for one doesn't seem fair." Then, nothing but static.

I could see Glenn with the same fear and panic that I had. "Office," I thought. "Might have an idea of where they might be headed."

Glenn and I raided the only room within the complex that could be the office. Among the dead bodies and bullet ridden file cabinets was a map of the area, with several spots circled in red. "Any markers for indication?"

"That X has to mean something… as does that circle two and a half miles north of here."

"Wait, look at this.. it says emergency safehouse. And there's only one of it. My hunch is that's where they're headed."

Glenn agreed, but also disagreed. "That looks like the right kind of spot, but what about some of these other places? We should split up and investigate them one by one-"

"No we shouldn't." That was Daryl, walking in the office. "We have no idea how many more of them there are. Best to stick to numbers being on our side. You know it, I know it, and she knows it," he said, nodding at me. "We can use the extra vehicles, it's not like these shitbags will be needing them anymore."

"But Maggie-"

"Can handle herself. Same with Carol. We'll find them damnit."

I sure hoped so. I kept hoping as the three of us used a spare truck and began a convoy towards the marked safehouse in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As before, I hope everyone's in character, and would love some nice comments.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd have gotten this up earlier, but this week was real life hell for me, presidential election being the least of it. So enjoy.

_Daryl_

"Is this it?" asked Abraham to the captured Savior, on the side of the road. Abraham was pointing at the map spot that mentioned the safe house. After getting lost, we decided to stop and give our guest a proper welcome.

"I ain't telling you shit."

Abraham punched him again. Clearly, physical intimidation didn't work on these sons of bitches alone. We needed some more gut to the interrogation.

So I went to get it. There were plenty of dead bodies in the telecoms building. I cut off a hand and and tossed it in front of the man. "This happened to one of your friends that tried to pull some shit like you did. Still wanna play games?"

It took a few more seconds, but the Savior eventually gave the directions. "You'll never get there," he said. "We have reinforcements. You'll be deader than I am."

"Sure," said Rick sarcastically.

We got back in our vehicles and continued on our way. Beth and I got back to the subject of filling in the gaps of her travels here. "So your group camped in Fort Knox?"

"Yep," replied Beth. "But it was abandoned. Someone took all the gold early on, it seemed. Maybe they thought it would actually be worth something today."

"The only thing worth shit today are food and guns," I said. "And maybe people. I really like having you back. After I thought-"

"Don't. I'm alive. No use beating yourself up about it again."

"Sure," I said, looking into her pretty blue eyes.

"Who we really need to worry about is Maggie. I know she's probably still a better fighter than me, but I can't help but think any time someone is unaccounted for, the probability of them dying goes up."

"That's not happenin'. I'm going to make sure of that for ya. Even if it means getting me banged up."

 _You got your balls in the wind, little brother._ That's what Merle would have been saying to me had he still been alive.

She looked like one of the many loose women Merle had brought home to their trailer before the turn. He'd had a knack for making them wet their pants for him, while I just did my best not to be caught up in all that drama. Beth hadn't changed in the months she'd been "dead". Sure, she'd matured (for the better), but the person I'd see "die" had not physically changed.

Not that I was wanting to change that.

The rest of the drive was relatively boring. The captured weapons in the back rattled a few times, but no real sound other than the car driving its way over dirt and paved road. When the safe house (a converted slaughterhouse) came in view, all doors were prepared for and weapons at the ready. After two of them were busted open with nothing, the group converged on the third.

"Ready?" asked Rick.

"Ready." I threw the large steel door open…

…to find Carol and Maggie already standing there. They looked beaten up, but were alive. Carol looked like she could use a hug, so I did just that. I cared about her too much to just let her stand around and act like that.

"They're all dead," said Maggie, to Beth and Glenn. "The ones that took us, their backup…" The bleak look on her face told us all we needed to know.

Rick turned to the surviving Savior, preparing to question him further. "Your friends are dead, no one's coming for you. So I'm going to ask you one last time: was Negan in that base last night?"

"Let him burn," I said. He probably knew a hell of a lot more than he gave off, but wasn't willing and not likely to crack.

The savior's face changed at the sound of the name Negan, as if he were a deity. He turned around to Rick with a newfound confidence and said, "I'm Negan, shithead. There's a whole world of fun to talk about, let's have a chat."

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Rick executed the man point blank, and without hesitation.

That didn't shock me as much as the fact that Carol looked more shell shocked by it than Beth.

_Beth_

The car was pretty dirty, but had a lot of items now considered luxury by today's standards. This included a pile of CDs in the dashboard. I began going through the names: Metallica, Eminem, Limp Biskit…

"These people had no taste in music," I muttered. Daryl just shrugged his shoulders.

"You still do that music thing?" He asked.

"I try at times. It gets easier to think about it when you're surviving in the world we live in." Then I looked at the last CD in the pile: Johnny Cash. It didn't have anything on it other than the name.

"Let's try this," I said, popping the CD in. A somber guitar track came on, immersing us in it:

 _You can run on for a long time_  
Run on for a long time  
Run on for a long time  
Sooner or later God'll cut you down  
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

 _Go tell that long tongue liar_  
Go and tell that midnight rider  
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter  
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down  
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

Now I could see why the Saviors might have liked this song. It was a grim tune of every person getting their due. I couldn't help but hum to the tune a minute in. Daryl was too. "Old man used to play a version of this half the time, at least when he wasn't drunk. Merle hated it."

"And you?"

"It got stuck in my head, like a loop. I could get a rise out of Merle just by playing it… God I still miss him. Thank God the group is a second family, otherwise I'd lose my damn mind." He paused for another minute, thinking. Then he said, "Hold Maggie close."

I didn't speak, but just listened. It was just the two of us in the car, just like it had been after the prison's fall. The drive, a twice as long journey, seemed like a fourth of that with some music to pass the time.

"You know, there's a music store not too far from one of the strip centers we raided," said Daryl as our car was let in the gate. "I could pick up a few things,"

"No, really," I said. "Don't risk yourself."

"We already cleared that area weeks ago. And we could use the entertainment."

The night was spent in celebration. We had dealt with a major threat for the time being, and we now had a steady stream of food coming from the Hilltop. The party was more of a laid back thing than anything, with Rick inviting the people from the prison group, plus Abraham, Eugene, and Gabriel (Rosita was at Spencer's). I took the opportunity to finish the gaps in what had happened between Grady and now.

"So, Rick and Michonne?" I asked Glenn. I knew they were friendly back at the prison but had never seen them as a couple.

"Well, Rick did like this one woman named Jessie that was here, before she and her kids got eaten." Glenn glanced at Maggie, who was talking to Sasha. "You know, Maggie is actually really enjoying having you back. I am too. Don't know if I've told you yet."

"You probably have." She knew Rick, Carl, and Daryl all had, the last of these at least a few times now. "This is the happiest I've been in a long time. I could just sing till my lungs gave way."

"Well lucky you." Daryl barged in, carrying with him a guitar. "For you. No one else was using it anyways."

"Aw, thanks, but you shouldn't have."

"Least I could do."

I figured I would just let him feel good about himself, so I took the guitar from his hands and began playing a few songs I hadn't forgotten. I soon became the community's house music person, the one people could turn to when they needed a uplifting beat.

Life was finally good again.

_Daryl, a week later_

I was not happy. Denise, our only doctor, had wanted to come out on a run, so Rosita and I let her do just that. And what happened? She fucking died. The worst part of it was, it wasn't by a walker. It was by that bastard Dwight.

He'd been burned on the left side of his face, but it was the same asshole who'd stolen my bike. And now he was a leader in the Saviors. "You're going to let us into your little camp, and let is take whatever – and whoever – we want. Otherwise we kill Eugene here."

Eugene had actually gotten himself captured. To get us out of the mess, he first told Dwight that Abraham was hiding behind some oil barrels. When Dwight got distracted and sent one of his men to investigate, Eugene did something pretty ingenious: he bit Dwight in the balls. At the same time, Abraham came out of hiding, guns blazing.

This gave me the opportunity to grab a gun and fight back. Dwight and his surviving men eventually retreated after some walkers got attracted by the gunfire. I wanted chase that fucker but the others had to pull me back, with other concerns.

I'd failed another person. I should have killed Dwight back then. I should have never let Denise.

"Once again, you go too hard on yourself." That was Beth, thinking she could make the fucking guilt go away just like that. We were pacing in the house where Glenn and Maggie called home.

"Out of all the people here, I'd think you were the one not to believe that bullshit." I didn't mean to raise my voice. But I was a sponge for getting people killed.

"If you want to wallow in self-pity, I can't help you with that." Beth turned around, heading for the door. "You think you're the only one who got people killed?"

"Like who?"

"Doctor Stevens from Grady. He was one of the people that accompanied me for a month. He fell in a ditch crawling with walkers. Our hands failed to meet by an inch. But do you see me continuing to weep for him? No. We mourn the dead and carry on with our lives."

I was silent for a moment.

"You're not the same girl that tried to slash herself." Then I walked out, angry as hell. Denise's death was still on me. I should have not let her go.

Ah, fuck it. We'd lost people far better this world than her: Merle, Tyreese, Andrea, Bob… The world was a funny damn place.

I decided to go talk to Carol about it. She was someone I could confide all this shit in. But she wasn't there. A note for Tobin, one of the Alexandria residents she'd gotten close to, but nothing more. She'd left.

_Beth_

"You sure about this?" I asked Maggie. She wanted her hair cut to a much shorter length.

"Yes I do. Just makes things easier, if you ask me. I know you have your ponytail but this is just what I want."

Under other circumstances, I'd probably decline. But anything for the last surviving member of my family. I took the scissors and began chopping away and Maggie's dark brown locks, one by one.

"I think Daryl's interested in you," Maggie said out of the blue. It made my heart pick up a pace or two.

"Well, of course," I said. "We were stuck together for a while, and now that I'm-"

"Not just that. I think he's taken a liking to you. Had he not, he'd have never let you in on the attack on that Savior base."

"You know I learned out to fight."

"Daryl wouldn't have let you be at risk for death the first night he had you back. The fact that he let you in anyways shows he trusted you more than most, that he cared about what you wanted."

Well, that made sense in a way. Daryl was a tough person to pin down. I finished the rest of Maggie's hair and let her look at it in a mirror. "I actually like it," I said.

"So do I."

"We should show Glenn when he gets back. No doubt he'll love it too-"

Maggie suddenly lurched over in pain, crying out. The way she grasped her belly was an immediate indication that it had something to do with the baby. Whether it was just kicking around or an actual miscarriage, I didn't know. I grabbed her and sat her back down, and then ran outside to find help. I first found Sasha, who in turn got Rick at Maggie's side.

"We need to go to the Hilltop and get her medical attention," I said with urgency. "They've got a doctor, something we no longer have."

Rick looked troubled. "Rosita, Daryl, Glenn, and Aaron haven't returned from their scouting yet. If we spend more people-"

"Don't get weak on me now! My sister is going to die if you don't get her to the Hilltop doctor!"

Rick then snapped out of his thoughts. "Let's get the RV up and moving." He, Abraham, Sasha, Eugene, Michonne, Carl, and I began loading weapons and gas for the drive that would save my sister's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm thinking of tweaking a few things in the encounter with Negan, mostly because this is already an AU. Any suggestions? I'd enjoy the chance to talk about this story, the show, etc. Just leave a comment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually surprised I managed to get this chapter done in a relatively short amount of time. A few things: I changed the rating to M because that's the territory we're entering, although I don't think that'll drive away anybody (probably the opposite effect). I also go up until Negan's first kill of the night. Wanna see who it is in this fic? Read on...

_Daryl_

Captured again.

I'd gone off by myself to hunt down Dwight, who still had to be nearby. The others didn't want me to. I didn't give a shit. However, Glenn and Aaron happened to get themselves captured by the group of Saviors. I was thus forced to try and save them with Rosita's help. However, a familiar voice said, "Hi Daryl."

"It was Dwight. The bastard had us outnumbered and had guns pointed at our heads. Then, out of nowhere, a bullet rang out, and it must have gone in me, for it felt like a bitch. The last thing I heard before passing out was "You'll be alright."

I woke up to find myself in a dark van of some sorts (it was probably nighttime) with the other three. Probably being taken somewhere for some sick act.

_Beth_

"What the bitch?" said Abraham as the RV began to grind to a halt. Rick, I and the rest looked out to see at least seven men and some trucks, gathered around a wounded person lying on the road. Not friendly people, from the looks of it.

"More Saviors," continued Abraham. "We doing this or not?"

"Not," said Rick, as we all got our guns (except for Maggie, who was too sick to really move) and walked outside like a Western showdown. An awkward silence prevailed for a few seconds.

Then the leader, a balding man with a pedophile mustache, spoke up: "He was someone from a whole bunch of someones who didn't listen."

This wasn't good. I was guessing there were a lot more of where this came from in the nearby areas. But Rick didn't seem too fazed. "We can make a deal, right here, right now."

"We can," was the ominous reply. "Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you, but that's just the way it is."

"Yeah, that's not going to work for us." At Rick's signal, everyone got their weapons at the ready. "In fact, I was about to ask for all of _your_ stuff – only I was thinking I don't have to kill any of you. Any _more_ of you."

No reply. One of the other Saviors began spraying a painted X on their victim. I briefly wondered what that man had done to be strung out as a public display of intimidation.

"Sorry," said the Savior leader. "Our deal is the only deal."

"Fine. We're leaving." As the others and I went back in the RV, I overheard Rick and the lead Savior talk about "the last day on earth", and that we should be "extra nice" to each other, because we'd never know what might happen.

That made me check on Maggie. Her fever was getting worse, and we needed to get to the Hilltop ASAP. But we kept encountering more and more obstacles. First was a group of sixteen or so Saviors on the road we were initially going to take. Eugene found an alternate route, but here the Saviors had set up some walkers. They had things on it like one of Daryl's arrows and such. "This would indicate that there are a lot more of them then there is of us," quipped Eugene.

The final roadblock was dozens of more Saviors, behind some logs. The leader from before called out, but we drove away without a fight.

It was dark. Maggie's condition had not improved. If anything, it was getting worse. "We need to get her there at any cost," I said, beginning to panic a little. If Maggie died tonight, I couldn't live with myself.

"They're probably looking for the RV," said Eugene. "I can distract them with it while the rest of you go on foot, slipping past them."

It was a remarkably bold move from a man Daryl claimed was cowardly. Before taking the vehicle, he handed Rick some bullet making instructions, in case things went horribly wrong. Rick and Abraham both embraced him, in case he was the one with "the last day on earth".

"We're going on foot now," I told Maggie as we got her on a stretcher and began our journey by foot. "You're going to be ok. We'll make sure of that."

A grunt from my sister. It was all she was capable of. It seemed the worst was over.

But it wasn't to be. Not ten minutes of walking, we began hearing whistles from all directions. Rick and the rest of us couldn't find where they were coming from, so we decided to move back to the road, to reassess our options and decide from there.

As soon as we were on the stony path leading down the road, however, lights came on from all sides, as did the whistling. The lights came from cars, and there were at least seventy men surrounding us, probably more. Every one of them had a blank look on their face. Every weapon imaginable was in sight: assault rifles, semiautomatics, all types of melee weapons, and even a chainsaw. The RV was in front of us, and Eugene on his knees, a gun pointed to his head by the mustached Savior leader we'd encountered before.

"Welcome to where you're going," he said with malicious glee. "We'll take you're weapons now."

"We can talk-"

"We're done talking. Time to listen."

Saviors approached and stripped them of their weapons. The Uzi and shotgun on me, taken from the dead Saviors at that base, were back in their hands.

"Get her down and get on your knees," the Savior leader demanded. Several of his men moved forward but Abraham rebuffed them, saying we could do it on our own. "W-Where are we?" Maggie asked me, coming to her senses halfway.

"We got caught," I whispered to her. "Rick'll get us out of it. You'll be fine. I'm here, I'm here."

Abraham and I helped Maggie kneel halfway decent, at least for the Saviors not to be on our asses. She was shaking endlessly, so I held onto her lightly. Rick, kneeling at my left, said nothing. He'd finally run out of ideas to get us out of this.

 _It couldn't get much worse than this,_ I thought.

But it did. Very, very much worse.

_Daryl_

After what must've been an eternity in the darkness, I was finally subjected to the light and dragged out. Rosita, Aaron, and Glenn followed closely behind.

We were surrounded by perhaps sixty something Saviors. They obviously had been planning this for a while, because Rick and several others were already kneeling. I spotted Beth holding onto an obviously weakened Maggie. What it was, I didn't know. Probably pregnancy issues. If I had to guess, they were out trying to get her help.

"M-Maggie? Beth?"

Glenn attempted to run towards his wife and her sister, but was prevented from doing so by Dwight. Using my fucking crossbow, he forced Glenn into position, at the very end of the line.

"Looks like we've got a full house," said one of the Saviors. "Let's meet the man Negan." He went up to the RV door and knocked on it.

The man who opened the door and came out was probably in his forties, had slick black hair, and was wearing a leather motorcycle jacket. In his left hand was a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. This was supposedly the same Negan that had terrorized the Hilltop.

"Pissing our pants yet?" Negan asked, flashing a mischievous smile. "No? It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real quick. Which one of these pricks is the leader, Simon?"

"That one," said the Savior officer, pointed at Rick. "He's the guy."

Negan walked up to Rick and looked him down. "Hi. I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people! Not cool. Not fucking cool. You have no idea how uncool that shit is. But… I think you'll be up to speed shortly."

Negan paced a bit, looking at all of us like schoolchildren that got caught drinking and smoking together.

"You see, Rick, whatever you do, you don't mess with the new world order, and it is this. Even if you're fucking stupid, which you very well may be, you can understand it, and here it is: give me your shit, or I will kill you."

I looked at the others. Glenn was focused on Maggie, and by extension Beth. Abraham was as blank as most of the Saviors. Michonne looked to Rick. Carl remained defiant. And Eugene was probably pissing his pants. To most of us, Negan was the Governor if the Governor had managed to capture us instead of just front on assaults.

This was worse than Woodbury.

"Today was career day," continued Negan. He sure loved to hear himself talk and gloat. "We invested a shit ton to show you what I can do. You all work for me now, that's your new job. Now, I understand that's a mighty big pill to swallow, but swallow it… you most certainly will."

I noticed, though the throbs of pain from the shoulder gunshot wound from Dwight, that Beth was the only woman in the group not showing fear on her face. Instead, she stared down Negan with her eyes. She had to be as scared as the rest of us, but she was better at hiding it.

As before, a lot can happen in a few months.

"You ruled the roost," Negan said to Rick. As the leader, Negan was taking an interest in sticking superiority in his face. "You built something. But the word is out: you are _not_ safe. Not even close. In fact, you are fucked, more fucked if you don't give me what I want, and what I want is half your shit. If that's too much, you can find, steal, or make more, and sooner or later it'll all even out."

What made this shitstorm worse is that there was no visible way out. No hidden way to bite necks, no Carol waiting in the shadows to mow everyone down again.

"So if somebody knocks on your door… you open up. We _own_ that fucking door now. If you try to resist us, we will knock that fucker down without a thought. You get that?" Negan put a hand to his ear and leaned down, pretending to hear a reply from Rick. Rick, of course, didn't say anything. "What, no answer?"

Yep, no answer. None of us were going to let this fucker feel good about himself.

"You didn't think you were going to get through this without getting punished, now did you? I don't want to kill you people. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're fucking dead, now can you? But Rick, you killed my people, a whole goddamn lot of them. Bud and his motorbike dick brigade, everyone at Paula's base, half of Dwight's boys… hell, there's probably more. But for all their deaths, well… for that you gotta fuckin' pay. So now.. I'm going to beat the shit out of one of you."

Negan now kneeled down to our level and stuck the barbed wire bat in Rick's face. "This is Lucille. And she is _awesome._ All of this, just to figure out which one of you gets the honor."

_Beth_

Throughout Negan's long monologue, Beth remained focused on keeping Maggie upright and alright. But for a moment, her thoughts drifted back to Leo. _"Don't get your panties in a fucking bundle,"_ she could hear him saying. _"You either give up or make the worst of every goddamn thing you get thrown at your face."_

Admittedly he hadn't been held at gunpoint by masses of other humans, but it was solid advice. Since Maggie couldn't do anything, she did. She eyed Negan as he began making the rounds through people. Abraham also stared Negan down, but the enemy just rolled his eyes, rubbed his beard, and went onto Carl.

"Lighten up kid, at least cry a little." Carl looked down, and then Negan moved on to whoever he wanted to pick on next. That person was Maggie.

" _Jeez-us,_ you look _shitty._ I should just put you out of your misery-"

I was prepared to hold Maggie down and get in the way of Negan when Glenn began yelling and running towards Maggie. Two of the Saviors grabbed him and dragged him back to his spot, kicking and screaming along the way.

"Nope, get him back in line," said Negan, now looking at me. "First's one free, I get it. It's an emotional moment. Do that again and I will shut that shit down, no exceptions… And who might you be, blondie?"

"I'm her sister."

"Really? Don't look like it at first." Negan bend down, and placed the bat an inch from my eye, where a barb from the barbed wire might scratch me hard. "Holy shit. Anyone else would have flinched to that, or cried, or some other shit. You really don't scare easy, do you?"

"You'll have to try harder." No emotion from my words, he didn't deserve that. I was actually very scared, but he wasn't going to see it from me. His dark eyes just stared at mine. Then he grinned and laughed for a second.

"Wow. I'm actually impressed. But you don't get to play martyr, girl." Negan stood back up and began rubbing his head. "You know, I simply can't decide. Let's play a game." He began with Glenn. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." Each person he passed by had the bat stuck in their face. "Catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers, let him go…"

My heartrate went up again. Maggie's had to have, though I couldn't see it in her condition. The same had to be true for everyone. The old childhood game seemed to have lasted ten times longer with Negan's slow speed and indecision.

"…And you are… it." Negan finally walked forward and stuck the bat in Michonne's face. Rick turned pale and began visibly panting.

"Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father, and _THEN_ we'll start." Rick began muttering "No, no," and looking in Michonne's eyes, who was situated right next to him. She did the same, embracing her inevitable death with some sense of dignity.

"You can blink. You can breathe. You can cry. Hell, you're all going to be doing that." As I tried to get Maggie to look away, Negan brought his bat crashing down on Michonne's forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Michonne was actually my prediction for Negan's kill until the premiere. I was thinking her death could emotionally upset Rick enough for him to become submissive to Negan in the short term.
> 
> Please comment! I really enjoy getting emails telling me that people like what I'm writing.


	6. Chapter 6

_Daryl_

Negan finally stopped beating Michonne's head. It was, to put in in simple terms, beating a dead horse. There was absolutely nothing left of Michonne's head, being reduced to mush. Several of her dreadlocks were caught on Lucille's barbs.

"Did you see that?" asked Negan, taking heavy breaths from his beatdown. "She took that like a CHAMP! Didn't she Rick?"

I saw Rick crying, but too traumatized to say anything.

"Oh shit," said Negan, feigning regret. "Was she your… girlfriend? Well… that fucking sucks. But you should be happy about how she went out. Your warm body at night just took one or six or seven for the team! So take a good, hard look at it."

Rick looked, but I could see the fire in his eyes. He wanted blood as soon as it was over. But now, he was mourning the best he could in the circumstances.

Negan, meanwhile, began to try and force others to look at the blood stained bat. Sasha flinched a bit, Carl gritted his teeth, and Eugene vomited. Negan then went to Abraham. "Why don't you look at it a bit, Big Red? Look at the insides of Rick's squeeze?"

"Suck my nuts," Abraham said defiantly.

"Bitch all you want. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm in charge and you people aren't. Now take a damn look. Hell, that blood you see right there, Rick might have eaten out while she was on her period-"

That was it.

Not a fucking word more from that fucker. Rick had suffered enough and I wasn't going to let him be humiliated anymore. I got up with what energy I had left and punched Negan as hard as I could. Negan got knocked to the ground, and I was able to land in several more punches before the Saviors pulled me off of him and pinned me to the ground instead. I felt a gun being pressed against my head.

 _Do it,_ I silently egged the Savior. It would be a huge relief on me and save Rick the humiliation. My only regret was that I didn't tell Beth. I heard her screaming my name, but it was more of a "what the hell are you doing" rather than "please don't die".

I regretted not telling about how I truly felt about her.

But I wasn't dying.

Not when Negan commanded it.

He ordered the Saviors not to kill me, even when Dwight offered to for kicks. I was dragged back to my spot in the line.

"That's not how it works," Negan began, spitting out some blood. "I already told you people: the first one was free. Then what'd I say? I said I will SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN… No exceptions. Now I don't know what kind of lyin' assholes you've been dealing with, but I'm a man of my word."

Negan had calmed down. It was as if he was luring us into a false sense of security.

Perhaps not.

"First impressions are important. I need you to _know_ me." Negan moved towards the end of the line, where Glenn was.

"So… back to it."

And without warning, Negan turned a full 180 degrees and whacked Glenn's head with the bat.

_Beth_

No!

I wasn't the only one saying it. Maggie of course was, but Carl and Rosita did too. Another swing of the baseball bat, and Glenn wasn't the same. He'd taken a brutal hit right on the forehead, cracking his skull hard enough for one of his eyes to be forced out of position. It was suck a shock to all of us, and even one or two of the Saviors took a step back when Negan did the actual hitting.

It was gut wrenching and excruciating. I couldn't do anything but cry. As hard as it was for me, however, it was a thousand times more traumatizing for Maggie. Her mouth was open in shock as she looked to Glenn, who was struggling to say her name.

"Buddy, are you still there?" asked Negan curiously, flashing a smile. The sick bastard was making a mockery of what were Glenn's final moments. No honorable death like Michonne. No quick, easy end to the beatdown.

As Glenn continued to make sounds no human ever should have, Negan continued his psychological torments: "I just don't know, it seems like you're trying to speak, but you just took a hell of a hit! I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out! And it is gross as shit!"

Glenn then began to finally speak something. "M-Maggie, I-I'l l find y-you, I'll f-find you."

He was promising to see us again. Maggie just cried harder, and I couldn't stop any of my own weeping.

Negan then looked at us and gave a false sympathetic look that could have fooled the devil himself. "Hell, I can see this is hard on you people. I'm sorry, I truly am. But I did say it… _NO EXCEPTIONS_!"

Negan turned around and hit Glenn again. And again. And again.

Maggie at this point had gone into full shock, crying harder than when Daddy died. And I held her tighter and cried with her as a man I loved as a brother died in one of the most horrific ways imaginable, right in front of us while we could do nothing.

My thoughts turned to Daryl. He looked as horrified as the rest of us, dropping his jaw with each swing of Lucille. Surely he had to hold some of the blame? But that was Daryl at his core: always standing up for the group. He wanted to do what the rest of us wanted. I'll bet that he wanted what ultimately happened to Glenn.

He didn't think it through. I'd have to ask Maggie what she thought later, but for now she was simply too caught up crying over Glenn to do anything else.

"You bunch of pussies," said Negan as he popped Glenn's head again. "I'm just getting started!" And as with Michonne, he continued to beat Glenn's corpse several minutes longer. Everyone was dealing with it in a different way: Abraham and Carl gritted their teeth, Sasha shook her head, and Aaron looked like he'd seen the end of the world and had accepted it.

"Lucille is thirsty," said Negan, whose bat now had a large part of Glenn's scalp stuck on it. "She is a vampire bat!"

Glenn was all but dead now. His corpse twitched a few times before laying completely still. Maggie just kept crying, as did everyone else. I couldn't do anything else. Now Maggie's child would never know his father.

"What?" asked Negan. "Was the joke that bad?"

"I'm gonna kill you." Rick, though Glenn's death, must have finally developed his response to Negan. "Not today, not tomorrow, but I'm gonna kill you."

Negan just laughed, then asked for Rick's axe. "Simon here's my right hand man. Without him, what do you have? A whole lot of work. You should have one too. Maybe one of these fine people still breathing? Or… did I…" Negan made a _pop_ sound.

Then, without warning, he grabbed Rick and began heading for the RV. "Be right back. Maybe Rick'll be with me, but if anything happens, we can just turn these people inside out, can't we?"

As soon as the door slammed shut, Maggie fell, unable to take it anymore.

"Can you get her some water?" I asked one of the Saviors, the same man who'd painted the X on that one man in the street.

"Shut your trap," was the harsh reply. "I'm not a babysitter."

"I don't know what condition she's in, and she's the only person I know who can grow crops. Without her, you'll never get any food from us." Admittedly, I'd learned a few things too, but not on Maggie's level.

Simon rubbed his mustache, then told the other Savior, "Clay, get her a bottle or some shit. I like having food on a regular basis."

The Savior just grunted and went into one of the trucks, came back with a water bottle, and threw it in front of me. With Maggie's head in my lap, I tried my best to make sure she drank. I kept her head and eyes away from Glenn's body.

After she finally drank, the RV started and drove off to wherever Negan was planning to take Rick. As if killing his girlfriend wasn't enough to break him…

But I knew Rick. He didn't break easy.

It was Daryl I was worried about.

_Daryl_

As soon as the RV drove off, I collapsed from sheer exhaustion. I couldn't do anything else.

I had severely miscalculated what kind of man Negan was. I was expecting him to torment _me_. If nothing else, it would keep everybody else alive. But no, Negan saw through it fast, and killed Glenn for it.

One of my closest friends, gone in a second, for something I did.

How could Maggie or Beth ever forgive me? How could Rick?

It was my entire fucking fault. Add Glenn to the ever growing list of names of people I failed. Except I was more of a failure than any of them.

Abraham said something, and suddenly two of the Saviors were beating him up. I could tell, however, that their intent wasn't to kill him, just rough him up. Beth finished up the water bottle she was using to help Maggie recover, even though that wasn't much either.

With not much else to do, most of the Saviors began talking amongst themselves about things I didn't know or care about. Even then, there were enough on guard to ensure that if we all got up and killed several, each at the same time, we were all dead too. Occasionally a walker stumbled into the area, but it was quickly dispatched by whoever was nearest.

Among us, the only one speaking was Beth, telling Maggie whatever soothing words she could tell, Bible verses and what not. Reminded me of when we had a pissing contest over a dumb game of "never have I ever". After yelling for five damn minutes straight, I broke down. I told her that I'd failed. I let Herschel die and I let the prison get blown up.

And Beth still forgave me, putting all the personal insults aside. She simply hugged me while I let myself cry a little. Merle would have told me to "man up, little brother."

I personally didn't give a rat's ass.

Eventually, I got up and sat myself, prepared to wallow in misery if that was what it was going to be. Abraham was still lying (thanks to getting beat up), and Maggie still had her head in Beth's lap, but other than that everyone was sitting, as if dead inside.

Ten minutes later, the RV came back. Rick was thrown out, followed by Negan. Rick had to have been subjected to some sort of brutal ordeal, since he was still shaking. "Lemme ask you something, Rick. Do you even know what that trip was about?"

Rick simply sat on the ground, seemingly retraumatized by seeing his everyone in the daylight. The humiliation in front of us probably didn't help either. Rick didn't say anything.

"Speak when you're spoken to." Negan sounded like an angry schoolteacher again. I watched him pace around with the bat in hand. Rick sniffled. "Okay...okay."

"That trip was about the way that you… looked at me. I wanted to change that, I wanted you to understand. But you're still looking at me the same damn way, like I pissed in your scrambled eggs, and that's not going to work. So, do I give you another chance?"

"Yeah… yeah."

"Okay, alright, and here it is. The grand prize game." Negan smiled viciously and stood, gesturing with Lucille. "What you do next will decide whether your crap day becomes everyone's _last_ crap day, or _just another_ crap day." Negan motioned with his free hand. "Get some guns to the back of their heads."

Several Saviors took out their rifles and sidearms and put them at our heads. I felt a barrel pressed pretty hard against my skull.

"Good," said Negan. "Now level it with their noses, so if you have to fire…" Negan made a gesture with his hand, pretending that his face blew outwards. "… it'll be _real_ mess."

He then turned his attentions on Carl. "Kid: here. Now."

Carl was silent for a few seconds, then reluctantly got up and stood next to Negan. As the man took of his belt, he asked Carl, "Are you a southpaw?"

"Am I a _what?_ " You could hear the defiance in Carl's voice.

Negan, however, didn't seem fazed by that. "It's a baseball term for a left handed pitcher. Are you a leftie?"

"No."

"Good." Negan began wrapping the belt around Carl's left arm and I instantly had an idea of what he was going to do. Yet another person I failed to save. "Did that hurt?"

"No."

"It should. It's supposed to." As Negan forced Carl to lie down next to his father, Rick began to stutter. "P-Please don't do this. Please don't."

"Me? I ain't doing shit." The implication being that Negan wanted Rick to do it, given how the ax was on the ground next to Rick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's mostly just rehashing S7E1 dialogue with my own twists, but it's fun to write Negan. Comment away!


	7. Chapter 7

_Beth_

The moment Negan began making a makeshift tourniquet on Carl's arm, I knew exactly what he had planned: Rick would be forced to watch his son become maimed right in front of him. Or else, we'd all die.

After using a marker to draw a line on Carl's arm, Negan took my expectation one step further: "Rick I want you to take the axe… Cut your son's arm right on that line."

Rick looked around, in pure disarray. Not only would Carl be losing a hand, he'd lose it at the hands of his own father.

"Now I know you're going to need to process that for a minute," said Negan, going on. "It makes sense. Still, I'm gonna need you to do it, or all these people are going to die. Quite nastily, in fact. Then Carl dies, then the people back home die… And then you. Eventually. I'm going to keep you breathing for a few years for you to stew on it."

I couldn't bear to watch Rick get tormented anymore. He'd lost Michonne and had been subjected to whatever torments Negan had forced upon him in the RV. I had to do _something._

"You don't have to do this," I said, pretty desperately. "We understand how things work now-"

" _You_ understand," said Negan, cutting me off. "That's great. Shows I'm getting through to you guys. I'm not sure that Rick does!"

And Negan's attentions were back on Rick and Carl.

"I'm going to need a clean cut, right on that line. Now, I know this is a screwed up thing to ask of you, but it's going to need to be like a salami slice. Nice, 45 degree angle. Give us something to work with. We've got a great doctor, the kid will be fine!... Probably."

That last word only made Rick cringe and panic even further. I was legitimately scared by this point. Harming Carl or causing all of us to die? God forbid I be forced to do anything of the like to Maggie.

Negan bent down, getting impatient. "This needs to happen now. Chop chop. Or I will personally crush the little fellow's skull myself."

"It-It could be me." Rick was starting to get desperate. His bargaining and ability to reason with hostile people began to break down when there was truly no way out. "You could do it to me, I can go with you-"

"No, this is the only way." Negan stood up again, emotion gone from his face. "Rick, pick up the axe."

Rick was once again silent and immobile. Another eternity moment passed.

Negan was getting fed up. " _Not_ making a decision is a _BIG_ decision. You really want to see all these people die?!" He waived his hands at us. "You will! You will see every. Ugly. Thing."

Now Rick began hyperventilating. I hadn't seen him this broken since Lori died.

"Oh my god," complained Negan, who for a moment seemed to actually take pity on Rick. "Are you really going to make me count? Ok Rick. You win. _I AM COUNTING._ THREE!"

"Please!" Rick was crying now, tears and snot abound. "I-It could be me. PLEASE!"

Negan, however, showed no sympathy. He continued counting: "TWO!"

"No, please don't-"

In between Rick's desperate pants, Negan bent down again and slapped Rick in the face like an abusive husband. He then boxed Rick's ears and said, "This is it." To think my life had once again been held by the thread of a single moment.

"ONE!" After Negan's last count, Rick began yelling in a mixture of rage and agony, and began to grasp the axe. Only when Carl began telling his dad just to do it did Rick begin raising the weapon above his hand.

Then, like a _deus ex machina_ , Negan stopped the entire thing. Instead, he told Rick, "You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?"

Rick frantically nodded his head over and over, still in a state of panic. Negan, not satisfied, grabbed him hard by the jaw. "SPEAK WHEN YOU'RE SPOKEN TO! YOU ANSWER TO ME! YOU PROVIDE FOR ME."

"P-Provide for you…" Another snot bubble came out.

"YOU BELONG TO ME. RIGHT?! _Right._ That is the look I wanted to see." Negan picked up the axe again and prepared to give what could only be another speech.

_Daryl_

"You did it," said Negan. "All of us. Together. Even the dead folks on the ground – hell, they get the spirit award for sure! Today was a productive damn day!"

Negan seemed flushed with victory. Like he was finished with us. The suffering was over.

Nope.

"Now I hope for all your sakes that you get it now. That you _understand._ Whatever you had going for you, that is over now. Dwight?"

Dwight turned his head.

"Load _him_ up." The bat was pointed straight at me.

Without even a warning, I was forcibly picked up off the ground by the bastards and dragged to the back of one of their vehicles. Maggie let off another round of sobs while Beth winced and cringed.

With Dwight pointing the crossbow at me, Rick "explained" the decision to Rick: "He's got guts. Not a little bitch like someone I know. I like him. He's mine now. But if you still wanna try something, not today, not tomorrow, not today, not ever – I will cut pieces off of… Hell's his name?"

"Daryl," said Simon.

"Sounds about right. I will cut pieces off of Daryl, and put them at your doorstep, or better yet, I'll have _you_ do it for me." Negan stood up and let out a sigh, as if he was relieved for once. "Welcome to a brand new beginning, you sorry shits! Imma leave you a truck. Keep it. You'll use it to haul all the crap you're going to find me."

Negan tossed the axe on the ground. Almost like clockwork, the Saviors began collectively moving back to their vehicles and leaving. Before the van I was in began to start, I heard Negan's last words to the group: "We'll be back for our first offer in one week. Until then, ta ta."

The van began rolling out, taking me to whatever Negan wanted to do with me.

I'd take it. He'd never hear me beg.

_Beth_

While the others all looked at the ground as the Saviors left, my eyes were glued to the van Daryl was being held in. I watched it drive off in the distance, alongside the rest of the Savior's vehicles.

I was more upset than I should have been. I'd barely had him back in my life for a few days, and poof: gone again, just like that.

More upsetting for me, however, was Maggie's overall state. In addition to whatever pregnancy issues she was having, it was made worse by tenfold by the corpse at our far right. She shuddered a bit, face directed straight towards the ground.

Everyone just sat where they were for a few minutes, trying to take in the full effect of Negan's reprisal killings. Then Maggie got up, and tried walking slowly towards Glenn's body. Knowing that she was in no state to be moving about, I got up and held her again, trying to dissuade her. However, she kept shaking me off and moved on towards Glenn.

"Maggie," said Rick, finally not focused on Carl or Michonne, "you need to sit back down."

"No," was the forceful reply. As forceful as a pregnant woman who'd lost her significant other could be.

"We need to get you to the Hilltop." As Rick tried to reason with her, Abraham and Aaron also got up, finally done being on the ground.

"You need to go get ready." Maggie's voice was shrill, but what could you expect from several hours of nonstop mourning?

"For what?"

"To _fight_ him."

I was about to speak, but Abraham beat me to it: "We'd be dicked if we tried that after what just happened."

"Abraham's right," seconded Rick. "They have Daryl; they have an army. We would die, all of us."

"Go home," retaliated Maggie, "and take everyone but Beth with you. We can get their by ourselves."

"Maggie," I said, not able to stand her trying to act tough in a shitty situation. "We need to get you there ASAP. You can barely stand."

"I'm taking him with me," said Maggie, pretty much ignoring everything I said and focusing on Glenn. She bent down to touch his body and cry once more.

"We'll go with you in the truck to Hilltop," said Abraham, referring to him and Sasha. I'd forgotten that they'd become a couple. "I was a soldier. Still am, in a way. And a soldier never fails the mission."

I nodded silently and hugged him. In this dark hour, I'd take all the support I could get.

At the same time, Rick went over to Michonne's body and silently wept, Carl doing all he could to support his father. Meanwhile, Aaron went to try to put a comforting hand on Maggie.

"I need to do this, please," she said to him though the sobs.

"We need to help you," was Aaron's sympathetic reply.

"I got her," I said as I moved around and hugged my sister from behind. I'd done this before with Daryl after he'd broken down from his drunken yelling at the golf club. No sound, just silence on a sad day. But I still shed my tears.

Eugene and Abraham went to the RV and got some spare blankets. They proceeded to wrap the bodies of Michonne and Glenn in them, and together the group put their bodies in the back of the vehicles while Rick and Maggie cried over what could have been.

" _Bet you thought you were all gonna grow old together, sitting around the table at Sunday dinner in the happily ever after?"_ Negan's words haunted me as I helped wrap Glenn's body and carried it alongside Abraham, Sasha, and Aaron. _"No. Doesn't work like that. Not anymore."_

And of all the stupid times to go daydreaming , I did. I stumbled into the imagination world and envisioned that Sunday dinner Negan was referring to, maybe a year or so down the road. The walkers in the area were cleared and civilization could try to rebuild. Everyone was happy and their minds focused on something more cheerful. I was singing a song and playing the guitar again, with Daryl looking on in admiration. Glenn and Maggie were at one table, taking turns holding their infant son. Rick and Michonne were at another, playing with Judith. The rest were scattered about, smiles abound and conversations on anything other than death.

It would never happen. And if it did, it wouldn't be the same. All we could do now was try to survive with the new circumstances.

Abraham, Sasha, myself, and Maggie took the truck to the Hilltop in little over ten minutes, Glenn's body in tow (Rick wanted to take Michonne with him back to Alexandria). Gregory and Jesus were there to greet us, hoping we had good news. While Abraham took the unconscious Maggie to the doctor, Sasha and I tried to explain everything that had happened.

"I thought your people took care of the Saviors," said Gregory with some contempt. He might have kept the Hilltop at peace, but his approach was one of appeasement first.

"We thought we did," I answered. "It was only a fraction of their forces."

"How many more were there?"

"Hard to say," said Sasha. "Probably more than a hundred."

Gregory bit his lip. "Maggie said you could take care of the Saviors. So far all it's done is put our people at risk. We'll talk it over once she's been looked at."

"Gregory-"

"No, Jesus. Not now. We need to discuss our deniability and blown cover, but it'll have to wait. Sasha, you and Abraham need to leave once Maggie's taken care of."

And with that Gregory walked off quickly, as if he'd had a bad feeling about the next few days. Given how I was a Hilltop resident for a while, the Saviors were likely to pay this place a visit soon. And if Abraham and Sasha were here, there'd be no denying Alexandria was in cahoots. Besides, they were needed back at Alexandria, given Rick's current state.

_Daryl_

Negan's Sanctuary was a large factory of some sorts, converted into living quarters for at least two hundred people from the looks of it. I was led by Dwight to first a doctor (to attend to my bullet wound), and then a dark, windowless cell. Not to mention stripped of my clothes. That bastard Dwight probably wanted them.

Nothing I hadn't experienced in childhood.

After the door slammed shut, music began blaring out. Obviously an attempt to do me in. The styles varied at first, being everything from Slipknot to Miley Cyrus, but eventually whoever was in charge of the radio settled on a shitty little tune called "Easy Street". Being upbeat and cheerful, the song did nothing to help me settle or sleep.

The only relief from the goddamn music was when a guard opened it to give me some sort of sandwich. I examined it to find dog food smeared over moldy bread.

I ate it. Nothing I'd not eaten before. And if this was the price to pay for Glenn's death, I'd gladly pay it.

I only wished I could see the others soon. Especially Beth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK everyone, I'm back from Thanksgiving. My schedule will probably be a bit inconsistent but that's just how life is. So thoughts? Feelings? Comments?
> 
> Jokerang


	8. Chapter 8

_Beth_

Gregory still seemed to blame us for everything, but was willing to let Maggie and I stay for a few days, as long as it took for her to recover. In the meantime, Abraham and Jesus went over the hidden weapons caches throughout Hilltop, all taken from the satellite outpost.

"There's several rifles under my floorboards," said Jesus, letting Abraham take an M4 for the journey back. "You sure you don't want to stay a few days?"

"I'm needed back home," was the red-haired man's stern reply. "With Rick out of commission for the foreseeable future, I'll be the one in charge. Besides, someone needs to have the sense to hide some of our own weapons, should Negan want them for himself."

"He will," said Jesus. "The Saviors took what little in firearms we had on their first collection. They made sure to make their own lives easier."

Abraham and Sasha left an hour later. Dr. Carson came out of the medical trailer to update me: "Lots of trauma, but the baby will be fine."

"Thank God for that."

"I'm very sorry. About Glenn, I think his name was. I barely knew him but he didn't deserve that."

I nodded. It was all I could do.

"You can go check up on her if you want. She's still asleep but it shouldn't be very long."

Maggie was still sleeping soundly inside. Someone had placed some blue flowers in a vase nearby. I grabbed a chair and just started uttering some things: "Maggie, if you can hear me, I just want to let you know how brave you are. You've endured so much, and this too shall pass. I love you, and I know daddy and Glenn loved you just as much. Stay strong, sister."

The Saviors came not two days after. The night before, they'd set a cruel trap for the Hilltop: they set a car blasting music right in front of the broken gates, and walkers came bursting through. It wasn't until Maggie came up with the brilliant idea of using a tractor to destroy the car, since the doors of it were melded to be shut tight. After that, it was just a matter of knifework.

"Where'd you learn to drive that?" I asked my sister when it was all said and done.

"Did dad ever tell you about that time when I ran over that one boy's car?"

I had forgotten the hilarious tale. The good thing was that some good came out of that pre-apocalyptic fiasco.

In the present day, Maggie and I were talking with Gregory about what was going to come next between Rick and the Hilltop when Jesus came in the room urgently. "Saviors. At the doors."

"We need to hide you," said Gregory to Maggie. "You know, plausible deniability. Beth, they've seen you before, find a closet for your sister to hide in."

I hid her in a utility room on the second floor of Gregory's house while the Savior leader named Simon and about twenty men crowded the lobby, all of them armed to the teeth. After a few halfhearted greetings, Simon leaned on closer to Gregory.

"We need to talk, and it's getting a little claustrophobic in here, so let's go to your study. Don't know if you heard what happened."

Simon had quickly changed from falsely charming to dead serious. I didn't know if "what happened" referred to the satellite base, Negan's introduction, or both. Gregory, whatever his knowledge, pretended to play dumb.

"Some of the other people you were dealing with, our brothers and sisters in arms… well they've been removed from the field of play. "

"W-What does that mean?"

"I think you know what that means. It means we need to talk!" Simon suddenly grabbed Gregory by the shoulder and forced him into the study. "Privacy time, boys. If blondie or Jesus here try to leave, shoot them, would you? There's some good fellows."

Gregory began to lean on a sofa while one of the Saviors closed the doors to the study and locked it. With little else to do, some of the others Saviors began fanning throughout the house. I just prayed none of them reached where Maggie was.

_Daryl_

Where's Alexandria?

How many people do you have?

Tell us more about Rick.

On and on it went. Several Saviors and Dwight kept bringing me to this alternate cell for torture and attempted to get answers out of me. I had already resolved not to give it, but it hurt like a bitch.

I had nothing on save for some ratty boxers left for me. Every inch of my skin was covered in either scars, blood or dirt.

But I didn't care. This was my punishment for Glenn's death. If Maggie didn't blame me, I did. I'd get out of here eventually, but until then I'd go with whatever they had in store.

Dwight was pulling out a knife from my shoulder when Negan himself walked in. He ordered everyone else out and pulled up a chair for himself.

"You're not the talking time, are you Daryl?"

Silence. His goons weren't worthy of answers, and neither was he.

Negan grinned. "Ok then. Let's try a different kind of question: why weren't you the one in charge of that sorry band of circus clowns? You were the only one with guts back there in that forest. Oh, and Big Red, but even his stopped fighting after a while. You just don't know when to fuckin' quit, do ya?"

No answer. I didn't want to answer. He'd just go on about how Rick was a pussy or something if I told him how much Rick meant to the group as a leader.

"No answer? Alright then. Dwight tells me you you've not been cooperating. So maybe you'll tell me something. Where's Alexandria? I know Dwight has an idea, but not the actual route."

After another five second silence, Negan stood up. "If you don't fuckin' answer, I'mma beat the shit out of you with my bare knuckles."

"Try."

And he did. He got up and began beating me up. After a minute, seeing that it wasn't having the effect he wanted it too, he left the room, slamming the door after him. A few minutes after that, he and two guards came in with two walkers. They were pressed against my face, just an inch from biting.

Admittedly, I did flinch a bit. But it would take a lot more than that to break me.

"Boss, I don't think it's working," said one of the guards, looking bored holding his pet zombie from a leash.

"Special one, this guy is," said Negan. "Joey, go through Daryl's personal belongings again."

Joey left and came back with a picture of Carol. It was the only one I had of anyone in the group. It used to belong to Ed, but now was in my possession.

"Daryl, do you have a special lady in your life?" Negan asked. "No answer? Well, that sucks. Because if this is her, my oh my, she looks like a MILF."

"Hmm. Maybe not her. Maybe one of the others in that lineup. It wasn't the short haired brunette, the Asian kid had her ass locked up. Wasn't dreadlocks either, given how Rick got all teary eyed over her death. They definitely were together. Maybe it was that hot little Mexican next to you?"

Negan paced around some more. "Or maybe it was blondie? She seemed a bit younger than you, but she was super-hot. I'd totally understand. I would love to _fuck_ her senseless."

I actually wanted to get up and give Negan another kick in the balls. But I had to play this smart. _He's just trying to get a rise out of you. Piss him off again and he might take another trip to Alexandria._

"You and blondie definitely had a thing. She was lookin' like she was begging me not to take you away. Ha ha ha. Oh well. She'll get over it. Maybe you too."

I wasn't too sure about that.

Another beatdown, and it was back to the cell and more of Easy Street. The next time Dwight came with a dog food sandwich, I had him drop it on the ground.

"You should be dead," said Dwight with contempt. "But Negan's taking a liking to you. Don't forget it." He then took some sort of Polaroid picture and taped it to the wall before leaving.

The music that came on next wasn't Easy Street, but rather a Roy Orbison song of sorts:

 _I was all right for awhile_  
I could smile for awhile  
But I saw you last night  
You held my hand so tight  
As you stopped to say, "Hello"

I'd seen similar photos at the satellite base. The picture was of Glenn's bashed in head. The man I'd caused the death of.

I cried.

I cried a lot, godamnit.

I cried over Glenn, who'd been like a brother and would have never done anything to harm me. I also found myself crying over Maggie and Beth. Maggie because of the pain and devastation I caused her (she'd blame me eventually), and Beth because... well, because. She'd been the only person to make me cry before, if you didn't count mourning over Merle's zombified corpse as crying proper.

Did I have feelings for her? I didn't really know.

But all I could think of right now was Glenn. Poor fucking Glenn.

_Beth_

It was a close one. Simon and Gregory eventually came out of their office and went straight for a closet. Jesus and I watched as Gregory looked around, and eventually gave Simon some whiskey that was boxed up in the closet.

My initial thought was that he thought that was the closet Maggie was hiding in and was trying to rat her out as a way of appeasing Simon. That coward. I knew he'd been easy on the Saviors before but this was unacceptable.

From the look on his face, Jesus was thinking the same thing.

After the Saviors left the house, Jesus and I went straight to where Maggie was hiding. The door hadn't been touched, and the secret safe with us. Gregory followed shortly, furious. "I thought you were in the main closet on the first floor! What if they'd came up here-"

"Before you tried to give her up?" I demanded angrily. "They would have killed you as well."

That shut him up. Jesus went into damage control mode, trying to talk Gregory out of his accommodating style. Eventually, however, it was no use. "We'll be one, big happy, dysfunctional family," was his ending sentence.

Gregory smirked. "So we will be. You know, I made progress with them just now."

"Literally bowing to them was progress?" I asked. Before going out the door, Simon had made Gregory kneel before him, like Simon was lord of the Hilltop and the residents owned him fealty.

"Yes, that's what it was. We play by their rules, and they play nice. They can be reasonable if you think about it-"

Maggie couldn't take Gregory's bullshit anymore. Out of nowhere, she socked him pretty hard, enough to make his nose bleed. Not two seconds after that, she took Daddy's pocket watch from him. Gregory must've taken it from the grave.

"It's a fine watch, didn't want them stealing it." Gregory was lying through his teeth and he knew it.

"You'll start calling me by my name," said Maggie, ignoring the watch. "Not honey, not dear, but Maggie. Maggie Rhee."

The decision to use Glenn's surname as her own surprised me a little. There'd been no official wedding (although everyone who knew them knew that Glenn and Maggie had claimed each other). But Glenn's death and seeing him disgraced in little ways like Gregory taking the watch must've made my sister more dedicated to his memory than before.

Later, when Gregory left to do another tour of the Hilltop, Jesus, Maggie and I went to Andy's home. He had one of the trailers next to Dr. Carson.

"Beth, what happens here doesn't reach Gregory's ears, alright?"

"Of course. Not like he'd do anything useful with the information. So what is it?"

Andy gulped.

Jesus began: "Maggie asked me earlier about scouting out where Negan lives…"

"And?" I said.

"And maybe we could get Daryl out in the process."

My heartbeat rose up a little bit, but I had to remain cautious. "But how? Wherever he's at, it's got to be heavily armed. And wouldn't they notice?"

"Not to worry," said Andy, grinning. "We have a man on the inside."

_Daryl_

"What's your name?"

Negan had just asked the question. I'd been subjected to his henchmen chanting "Negan" for long periods of time, as well as a recounting of Negan's history with Dwight. Turns out he was trying to flee, but ended up coming back, hence the half burned face. Not to mention having his wife belonging to Negan now. Merle would have called Dwight a "cuck".

I weighted my options. If I said "Negan", I'd have an easier life for the short term. Negan would finally be off my back and I'd maybe even be able to help with lightening the load off of Rick and the rest at Alexandria. Maybe even the Hilltop and whichever survivor communities the Saviors were terrorizing, if any.

On the other hand, I'd be insulting the memory of Glenn and Michonne. Not to mention I'd probably never get to leave serving Negan.

So the answer was "Daryl".

"Wow, you really are that fucking stupid. D, take him back for another round of Easy Street. I want him effectively neutered when we head back to Rick's front door."

So it was. Another five hours in the cell. However, I did get a note halfway through:

_You're not alone here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back everyone! Had a hectic few weeks of college but I finally got around to writing the next chapter. So to clarify, Simon's visit to Hilltop is taking place before Negan's early visit to Alexandria. Carl still will sneak in one of the Saviors vehicles like he did in the comics. I'll also be switching a few things we've seen and not yet seen on the show (using the Spoiling Dead to my advantage, lol).
> 
> What did you think? Leave a comment and let me know!


	9. Chapter 9

_Daryl_

"Little pig, little pig! Let. Me. In!"

Negan had gone to Alexandria three days earlier than expected. No doubt to piss off Rick and make it clear to him that Negan was to be obeyed no matter what. I was out in clear view and with a gun to my head, no doubt as insurance if Rick tried to retaliate.

Spencer and Rosita were the ones at the gate. "Who are you?" asked Spencer. He should have known by now.

"Oh, you better be fucking kidding me. Negan, Lucille, I had to make a pretty strong first impression, didn't I?"

Rick then arrived. "You're early. You said a week." Although obedient to Negan, Rick still had that flair of defiance. It just needed the right time to show off and now wasn't it.

"Well, what can I say? I missed you." Negan stepped in, followed by me and two dozen Saviors, along with all their hauling vehicles. "Hot diggity damn! This place is magnificent! Oh I know you're going to have some good stuff for me!"

While Negan began to gloat in the faces of Spencer and Abraham, Rick looked at me with concern and tried to talk, but Negan got in between. "Nope. You don't look at him, you don't talk to him, and I don't make you chop anything off of him. Negan then went to Abraham and got in his face. "Same goes for everybody."

At least Rick had tried. It was worth a shot.

After ordering his men to start searching Alexandria for supplies, Negan forced Rick to give him a tour, with myself and Dwight in tow. Rick had to be fuming on the inside, but had to endure it. To do otherwise at the moment was suicide. "Whatever happened to that sick girl? Hell of a night for her if I recall correctly. The way she was moving and moping about, she was married to the Chinaman, wasn't she?"

Rick gave Negan the look. The look he'd given Gareth, Pete, and others who'd crossed his path. So did I. But Negan was having none of it. "Careful. Careful how you're looking at me."

Satisfied, Negan went on. "Widows like that, they're often empty inside… in more ways than one. But usually not for long…"

The sick fuck. He really thought he had a chance of getting in Maggie's pants. Of all possible times.

"Would you care to pay her respects?"

Father Gabriel came out of nowhere, giving off a smile that rivaled Carol's bullshiting abilities (where was she, by the way?). Negan turned to him and said, "Holy shit! You are creepy as shit, coming at me with that creepy-ass smile."

He then turned to Rick, putting two and two together. "She didn't make it?"

Fuck. That was another person on my watch, if true. Rick didn't say anything.

"Take me to the grave."

The grave that was shown to Rick was in face Denise's. That led me to believe that Maggie was still alive somewhere. Probably at the Hilltop. But if the Saviors found her there, Negan would come back and kill someone else.

Hopefully, he' just chop off one of my arms instead.

"A damn shame. You know Rick, I was going to ask her to marry me and join my other wives. I know what you're thinking: how could a guy like me have a chance? After bashing in Chinaman's head. But you know, I've done it before. So it's possible. And what about her super-hot sister? She's not dead too, is she?"

"She's out with some of our other people getting more supplies." Another lie, but hey Negan said for me not to talk.

"Oh. Maybe I'd ask her too-"

A gunshot. In one second, Negan went from happy-go-lucky to dead serious. "Watch him," said Negan to one of the guards while he and Rick went to investigate the gunfire. The guard, who had a beard and was wearing a knit cap of some sorts, kind of just looked around, almost as if bored with the whole thing.

The rest of Alexandria's subjugation went as bad as can be. Negan proceeded to take what seemed to be most of Alexandria's firearms (although I'm sure they hid some in the fresh graves) as well as every luxury and miscellaneous item they could find. He did let Rick keep all the canned food, as a gesture of showing "how reasonable we are, once you get to know us".

Reasonable, my fucking ass. The only thing going for me was that my babysitter guard wasn't dragging me everywhere like Dwight or Fat Joey would.

_Beth, a day earlier_

"An inside man?"

"Yeah," repeated Andy. "The two of us – Jesus and I – are the only ones that know about it. Well, Ethan did too, before…"

"Rick did what needed to be done," said Maggie sharply. "If he was willing to do that to Gregory he'd do it to you too if that was what Negan wanted."

Andy stopped looking down and began about the inside man again: "We don't know much about him other than he hates Negan just as much as you do."

"Then why does he stay with Negan?"

"He thinks he can do more damage on the inside," said Jesus. "From little things to making Negan's prisoners' lives easier to not killing survivors on the road and giving us heads up to future Savior collection days. That kind of thing."

"Have you talked to him since Negan killed Glenn?"

"Not yet, but we do have a radio for contacting each other. He told us earlier that Negan and his men have gone to Alexandria earlier than planned, so he's laying low with Negan's crew and scouting out the area."

Maybe he could help with Daryl. "Can we meet him tonight?"

"Probably. He's one of the main night guards and he's given bribed and sleeping pilled the others into being free for the night."

"Good," I said. Daryl needed to be broken out. God knows what he's going through right now. He deserved the least of all people.

The next stop was Craig's home, a small cabin behind the Barrington House. Craig was the hostage freed from that satellite station, and his house hid about half of the Hilltop's guns that were taken from the dead Saviors.

"Terribly sorry to hear what happened," said Craig, massaging his arm. It had been broken by the Saviors and was still recovering.

"Don't be," said Maggie. "Guns: we need some. Now."

"W-Why?"

All eyes turned to Jesus. He was going to be the one doing the explaining. "We want to break one of Negan's hostages out, maybe more. No one else knows but the people in this room, not even Gregory, and we want it to stay that way. Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure, it's just… How are you gonna do it?"

So another person learned about the inside man. I wanted to keep it secret but Jesus said it was time for Craig to know, considering how he had a personal stake in this as well.

When it was all said and done, there were ten people in total who we could rely on for Daryl's breakout. A couple were ex-soldiers, and one was a former National Guard officer. Not a bad lot, but not a group to take on the Saviors' main base. Maybe a Savior convoy, and maybe we could work from there.

The last step was meeting the inside man. That was going to have to be tonight.

I'd wait. For Daryl.

_Daryl_

Eventually Negan decided to stop harassing Alexandria and decided to leave. But before he did, Rick actually asked a question: "Now that you know we can play by your rules, can Daryl stay with us now?"

" _Nope._ Not a chance. Unless… he wants to. Do you wanna stay, Daryl?"

I wanted to say yes. But Negan was likely toying with Rick again, to get his hopes up. Besides, my penance for getting Glenn killed was over yet. So I was silent.

"Well, Rick, at least you tried. In case you haven't noticed yet, I just slid my dick down your throat and you thanked me for it. Buh bye Rick."

I was put back in the van I arrived in. Two Saviors, the bearded man and another asshole called Davey, sat there with me. The bearded one was silent for most of the ride, but Davey was more harassing. The SOB was trying to fuck with my hair.

"Why's it so damn long?" Davey said, barely an inch between our faces. "Ever heard of a thing called a shower?" A few seconds of silence, and then Davey went on: "I don't know how you got laid like that. Negan think's you're hot shit, but I don't. You really are one dirty motherfucker."

"Ok, Davey," said bearded man. "You're just rehashing every insult in the book. Besides, we can force Daryl here to take a shower whenever we want to. Right?"

I didn't nod, but if a thank you could be telepathically sent, I sent it.

"Exactly. Davey, don't get worked up because the boss likes him better than you. Leave it to him to deal with him for you."

Davey just _humphed_ and went back to being silent. It was like this for the next ten minutes when the convoy of trucks finally stopped and a commotion took place. I went outside to see Carl with a rifle and the bodies of several Saviors at his feet. "I only want Negan!"

I couldn't say anything. Doing so would distract Carl and get him killed. Negan, however, seemed more amused than angry. He used one of his men as a human shield and began talking to Carl: "You picked that gun because it looks cool, right? Wow! You really are a badass!" But while talking, Negan motioned for Dwight to surprise Carl and disarm him, Dwight seemed to want to kill the kid, but Negan stopped him.

"Don't be rude, D. Is that any way to treat our new guest?"

A fate worse than death was what that probably meant. How I wished to take his place.

_Beth_

Now that it was nightfall, Jesus made his radio call to his contact in the Sanctuary. Using flashlights, Maggie, Jesus, and I all walked what was assured by Jesus to be a safe path to a moonlit area not too far from the Hilltop. It looked like one of those rest stops at a National Park, from the looks of it.

"Now we wait," said Jesus. We sat at a park bench and waited.

A few minutes late a lone figure with a beard and knit cap appeared. He sat down opposite of us.

"Good you could make it tonight," began Jesus.

"First of all, I was never here, and we never spoke," the man said bluntly.

"Fair enough," said Maggie. "Give us something about yourself."

"Gideon. Not my real name though. No one alive knows my real name. I like to keep it that way. Sorry about the Asian, by the way. I can't control Negan, obviously."

Gideon's grudge against Negan and the rest of the Saviors happened to be fairly big: he'd lost family to them. His nephew that he'd adopted before the turn had been Rory, the sixteen year old boy first killed by the Saviors to assert their dominance over the Hilltop. He'd been separated from the kid during the turn and subsequently joined the Saviors' ranks, looking to survive in the new world.

"Wasn't there when it happened. God knows what I would have done. Still haven't actually done anything about it to this day. But maybe getting your dirty friend out can help."

"It will," I blurted out. "Can you give us anything that we could use?"

Gideon thought. "Negan wants to move him tomorrow to an outpost. Things he'll get to uppity if he stays in one location for too long. It'll be me and a few others taking him there. Now here's what your people are going to do…"

As Gideon, Maggie and Jesus discussed the details of the plan, I said a silent prayer: _We're getting you out, Daryl. Your time in hell is over._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gideon is based on one of the Savior extras that I've seen in several episodes. He's at Glenn's death, Negan's first trip to Alexandria, the scene where Mark gets the iron, and most recently pointing a gun at Father Gabriel when Rosita shoots at Negan. Can't describe much more of him besides the beard and knit cap, but if you rewatch the scenes I mentioned you might be able to spot him out.
> 
> As before, leave comments. Feedback only motivates authors to write more.


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